Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507100014
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The school disparity issue will resurface soon in Virginia.
A coalition of mostly rural school systems is quietly preparing a public-education campaign to persuade the General Assembly and taxpayers to provide more money for poor schools to reduce funding disparity.
The group plans major lobbying during the legislature's next session to seek more disparity funds, said Ken Walker, chairman of the Coalition for Equity in Educational Funding.
``We're hoping to mobilize support - to educate the public, community leaders and General Assembly members on the need for more money for poorer school systems,'' he said.
A series of news conferences and other programs will be designed to build public support.
Walker said in a telephone interview this week that the legislature made ``small steps'' to reduce disparity this year by approving legislation that will provide $148 million in the next two years for poor school systems
He said, however, that the coalition believes more money is needed to provide the same educational opportunity for all the state's schoolchildren.
``We feel that a much larger effort is needed,'' he said. ``Not enough has been done.''
Walker, superintendent of South Boston and Halifax County schools, said the coalition now hopes to get more money through the political process rather than through the courts.
``We've put the litigation behind us,'' he said. ``We hope to educate the people and the legislators on the need.''
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled last year that the state is required only to provide a free public education and to ensure that all schools meet the minimum standards of quality set by the General Assembly.
The court said the Virginia Constitution does not require equal, or substantially equal, funding or programs among school systems.
While the elimination of disparity may be a worthy goal, the court ruled it is not required by the constitution. Any relief for the poorer school systems must come from the General Assembly, the court said.
The dispute in Virginia is part of a nationwide debate on the constitutionality of school finance systems, which has prompted a raft of litigation.
Since 1989, supreme courts in 12 states have issued rulings on the constitutionality of their educational finance systems, and more than 25 states are involved in litigation on the issue, according to Deborah Verstegen, a school finance expert at the University of Virginia.
Recent court rulings in Montana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Arizona have found that the state systems for financing education failed to provide constitutionally mandated levels of educational quality for all students.
Verstegen said the drive for equal educational opportunities has made school finance a pressing civil rights issue facing school systems.
Research shows that money makes a difference in education, and that test scores are higher in richer school systems, said Verstegen, author of several recently published articles on the topic.
She said most school systems are relying on finance systems designed about 70 years ago to prepare students for an industrial economy.
``Schools and their finance structures are ill-equipped to handle an economy that is information- and technology-based,'' Verstegen said.
``Our finance systems don't support our goals. They need to be upgraded for the 21st century,'' said Verstegen, an associate professor of education and finance in UVa's Curry School of Education.
Her research indicates that recent court rulings are establishing new guidelines in finance equity by redefining the constitutionally required level of education a state must provide and using new criteria to measure compliance.
``School finance systems need to be radically redesigned to rest on a concept of high quality education for all children - not the idea of a basic or minimum education,'' she said.
by CNB